Basic fishing kayak
Submitted by BoozeFishSnooze on Thu, 2012-09-27 02:57
Hey all, just wondering what would be a good entry level sort of kayak just to go out around warnbro sound/rockingham area for a bit of different fishing from palm beach jetty and port kennedy beach. I've heard about hobie kayaks being alright for fishing but are there any other makes I should have a look at?
Cheers.
____________________________________________________________________________
Call me the wrasse whisperer.
opsrey
Posts: 1200
Date Joined: 05/10/07
My experiences ....
Wind chop is your biggest enemy. The kayak must have a V shape to its front. My Gizzmo has a flat bottom and is hopeless in wind chop. The Gizzmo jumps up and down in its front and water continually flies over the front into your gear and face. Additionally the Gizzmo tracks left and right due to its flat front and the underneath rakes being biased so far back on the kayak. The Gizzmo is designed for running down small wave fronts and turning on such waves. The Gizzmo is a great red fin craft, we just paddle up to snags and jig them with soft plastics. Getting 100 reds per day is a sinch. In providing this information I will offer that I have fished my Gizzmo 4 km offshore at more river. The tough part is getting through the shore break. Caught all the snapper 200 meters offshore on the way back in :) only got Wrass out wide.
The basic underneath shape of your kayak is important, but so is its ability to hold an adult who is fishing. Make sure it's carrying capacity suits your body weight plus a little bit more. I use my sons kayak now and then, it's for teenagers, and it's not designed for my weight and runs close to swamping with me in it.
Consider the use or adaptation of an out rigger, the stability increase for such a small snap on accessory is well worth the cost.
Additionaly it may be worth the time to work out what you do when a 5 meter Great White slides up beside you. Pre planning this type of event may save your life. I haven't figured it out yet other than holding your nerve and bashing the GW on the nose with your paddle. I guess you could throw excrement at it, there is likely to be plenty of that at hand.
Post a pic of your ride when you get it. Good luck.
Post a pic of
BoozeFishSnooze
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 27/09/12
Yea at the moment I'm just
Yea at the moment I'm just looking around and seeing what peoples opinions are on different kayaks I have a limit of about $500 give or take don't want to invest too much at the start but wait and see how it turns out.
Call me the wrasse whisperer.
crezz
Posts: 695
Date Joined: 12/03/12
better off spending money
your better off spending a bit more and getting something decent. $500 will prob only get something small and short. short yaks are extremely hard to paddle a long distance. in my experiance something around 4m+ would be better and they track alot straiter. also width is something to concidet. the wider the better for stability however it gets hard to paddle, to thin and you loose balance and fish fighting capability and storage capacity. m
my viking kayak is 4.5m and 77 cm wide. plenty of room and not too wide. very stable and dry.
it cost me $1500 a few years ago. very happy with it.
if you can scrape together the cash go the hoby and get the peddles. heaps easier to fish from and you can cover more ground alot easier.
hope this helps